Rumours have been swirling for a while regarding Wii Party U skipping the eShop at launch, and with both the European and North American updates now issued it's clear that those rumours were correct. We've been seeking comment since the rumours first surfaced and will continue to do so.

It's the first example, since the launch of the Wii U, of a first-party game skipping the download store. Perhaps it says much about the importance of the mini-game collection in converting Wii owners and unsure consumers onto the new system, with a hardware bundle on the way to Europe and the physical release including a bundled MotionPlus controller. It seems oddly out of place, however, as Nintendo's stated policy has been to ensure that all of its own retail content has consistently been offered as a download, and the infrastructure obviously exists to place it on the store.

We'll continue to seek comment to clarify when Wii Party U will be available as a download, if at all. Are you surprised, indifferent or disappointed by this? Let us know in the comments below.

I think it may be available on eShop in a few months at a discounted price like Nintendo Land. But this decision makes sense, they want to push Wii Remote Plus to everyone who buys it at this point. This gives me confidence that Wii Remote will still be given great focus on future 1st party titles.

Nintendo is probably trying to sell the bundles at a full retail price with the wiimote to justify it and will probably have a digital release later with the reduced price, just making an educated guess.

I've never had a reason to post the same comment 3 times in 1 day before, so here goes. (Hope I don't get banned for this.)

I don't see how they can release this on the eShop when it's packaged for $50 w/ a $40 Wiimote+ and a Gamepad stand. They'ld have to sell it for $10, but then nobody would buy the retail package for $50. It's lose-lose.

@rjejr I wouldnt mind paying 35$ for a download version then I think it's still a win win? I like to have this kind of game digitally as you play in small bursts and the kids will come back often to it so we don't need to pop the disc in and out all the time. Also I don't really need that wiimote nor the stand. If only there was a way to install the games then I wouldn't mind... That would be so nice if we had such a feature with a CD key like PC or something

Well, given the rather low price for the bundle, I assume that hardly anyone had chosen the download anyway, unless they had it released for an unusually low price. And then the target audience of this game is not the typical eShop consumer either. So I guess Nintendo won't lose a lot of buyers by taking a pass on the eShop here. However, as an eShop release does not actually cost Nintendo a considerable amount of money and as even with a, let's say, 30$ price tag the profit margin would've been most probably still higher, it seems weird after all.

@Maneauleau - Its always been my understanding - after years of PS3 digital retail downloads - that retail stores dont like to be undersold, so if Nintendo sold this for $35 retailers would refuse to carry it in store.

Ive never believed that and feel its just a way for Sony to keep their prices high, but thats the story.

For those that keep up on Club Nintendo in the US, they post Intend to Buy surveys for their first party Wii U games, both digital and physical copies. They never put up the digital version, just the physical copy survey for Wii Party U.

I thought this meant that they weren't intending this to be available as a digital download, but I'm sure that will change somewhere down the line.